Paul Hiom, who writes ‘The World According to Wurzel’ column for FISHINGmagic, fished with pal Dave Cooper on the lower Severn and netted his first double from the lower reaches. 
The barbel weighed exactly 10lb and fell to a hair-rigged sausage bait on a size 6 Hutchinson Vice Rig Hook to Berkeley Sensithin hooklength.
Paul fished over a bed of pellet and hemp fed with PVA bags and caught one other whisker weighing 5lb 14oz. Dave Cooper had barbel in the 7lb-plus, 8lb-plus brackets and a best fish of 9lb fishing meat over hemp.
Paul said: ‘This was our first serious attempt at the Lower Severn barbel. We didn’t expect to catch much as the lower river doesn’t normally come on till later in the year. But we started getting bites as soon as the boat traffic died and darkness started to fall.’
Just in
On their latest visit to the same stretch just the other day Dave Cooper hooked into a barbel he is convinced was well into double figures.
Dave commented: ‘The river had dropped two feet since our last visit and was barely flowing. We both blanked but I did lose two fish – and therein lies a tale I can barely bring myself to think about.
‘The first was pretty average for the section, probably 7 to 8lb. But the second was a right lunker . It just moved off real slow and I couldn’t do anything with it for a full minute. It just went downstream slowly, no speed or violence at all like it hadn’t realised it was hooked, with my rod bent double and the clutch ticking away. Then the hook pulled out and left me feeling as sick as the proverbial parrot.
‘God only knows how big it was, but I think it was well into double figures. I have caught a few barbel now and this one was different to anything I have hooked before, it just felt colossal. Maybe it was, maybe not, I guess I will never know. But I shall be back soon to see if it’s still there!
